Buenos Aires, 5 July 2001 - The FIFA Goal Bureau, under the chairmanship of Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar), FIFA Executive Committee member and Chairman of the FIFA Technical Committee, convened in Buenos Aires for an ordinary meeting yesterday. The Bureau approved in total 21 new projects in the Goal Programme:

Asia (AFC): 5
Laos, Maldives, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan

Africa (CAF): 7
Djibouti, Lesotho, Mauritania, Mozambique, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

Central and North America and Caribbean (CONCACAF): 3
Honduras, Montserrat and Panama.

South America (CONMEBOL): 2
Bolivia and Ecuador.

Europe (UEFA): 4
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Faroe Islands.

The construction involved in all of the projects mentioned above - headquarters, technical centres or football fields - are all due to commence in the coming weeks. The financial contribution from the Goal Programme consists of USD 400,000 for each project.

The Goal Programme, initiated by FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, is funded with a budget of CHF 100 million for the period of 1999 - 2002. So far, 23 Goal projects have already been completed or are due to be finished soon. Requests were also received from 50 other national associations to be considered for Goal at yesterday's meeting. All in all, 102 national associations will have benefited from Goal by the end of 2002 and the initial target will thus have been accomplished.

The Goal Bureau, working under the guidance of the Executive Committee, is composed of six members of the Technical Committee: Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar, Chairman), Angel Maria Villar Llona (Spain), Raúl Alfredo Magaña (El Salvador), Sergio Asbun (Bolivia), Mário Esteves Coluna (Mozambique), Reynaldo Arito Temarii (Tahiti) and Michel Platini as an adviser.

Enquiries to be addressed to:
FIFA Media Office
Tel: +41-1/254 9800
Fax: +41-1/384 9696

FIFA Communications Division
Buenos Aires, 5 July 2001